


Ochre

by gutterandthestars



Series: Twelvetide 2020/2021 [10]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy Looks Back, F/F, Hair Dye Is Much More Convenient These Days, Quynh Is Here And Sane And Loving, Twelvetide Drabbles 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28505340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutterandthestars/pseuds/gutterandthestars
Summary: Written for the Twelvetide Drabbles challenge 2020/2021, for the prompt 'Ochre' on 2nd January 2021.***Andy reflects on a modern convenience.***
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: Twelvetide 2020/2021 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095605
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Twelvetide Drabbles 2020





	Ochre

When Andy was young, whenever and wherever that had been, six-or-however-many-thousands of years ago, ochre was used to decorate many things. Walls, floors, bodies, ritual sacrifices, useful rocks, clothes, jewellery, and – of course – hair. She’s still quite fond of the colour, but it had been gritty, sticky, it irritated the scalp like a bitch, and later she though it had probably made her look like a walking terracotta column.

Henna was better, still messy while you’re doing it but worth it for the smooth and longer lasting results. Andy’s used it a lot in her time. Sometimes she goes into Lush, if she can bear the smell, and picks up a block of the stuff they have these days. It isn’t quite like the paste she remembers working through Quynh’s hair when they were travelling through the northern coast of Africa, but the basic olfactory notes are still there.

These days, there’s balyage.

“We’re nearly done with this bit,” the stylist tells her, painting streaks into Andy’s hair. “I know, it’s a real long process, but I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Oh yes,” agrees Andy, watching the corner of her own mouth twitch in the mirror, and catching the eye of the other woman sitting in a chair against the wall to the side. 

Quynh, her impossible, irreplaceable, indestructible Quyhn, still shockingly present, returned from the sea and fully alive, winks. 

“Really long,” says Andy. “But worth it.”

She reaches out her hand. Quynh leans forward, grasps it and squeezes. 

“Trust us,” Quynh agrees. “We’ve got time.” 


End file.
